Can international students receive a stimulus check?

To mitigate the economic risk of the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. government decided to deliver the second round of Economic Impact Payments as part of the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2021. This time, eligible individuals will receive up to $600. Many international students would wonder if they can receive the stimulus check and/or if there would be any negative legal implications for accepting the money. This blog post will look at the eligibility for the Economic Impact Payments to see if international students can receive a stimulus check.

Payments are automatic for eligible taxpayers who filed a 2019 tax return, … Generally, U.S. citizens and resident aliens who are not eligible to be claimed as a dependent on someone else’s income tax return are eligible for this second payment.  Eligible individuals will automatically receive an Economic Impact Payment of up to $600 for individuals or $1,200 for married couples and up to $600 for each qualifying child.

Treasury and IRS begin delivering second round of Economic Impact Payments to millions of Americans

Disclaimer: This blog post gears toward providing general ideas of the eligibility for the payment, individuals’ specific cases should be brought to the tax experts.

Contents

• IRS update on the eligibility for the payment
• Eligibility for a resident alien
• What if I am ineligible but received the payment?

IRS update on the eligibility for the payment

When the first stimulus check was released, there were many questions on eligibility. The federal agency, IRS (Internal Revenue Service) published Economic Impact Payment Information Center to answer frequently asked questions. Topic A: EIP Eligibility outlines 9 questions and answers on the eligibility. In the first part: ‘Am I eligible?,’ the IRS answers the following:

A1. Generally, if you are a U.S. citizen or U.S. resident alien, you will receive an Economic Impact Payment of $1,200  ($2,400  for a joint return) if you (and your spouse if filing a joint return)  are not a dependent of another taxpayer and have a Social Security number valid for employment and your adjusted gross income (AGI) does not exceed: $150,000  if married and filing a joint return, or $112,500 if filing as head of household or, $75,000 for eligible individuals using any other filing status.

Economic Impact Payment Information Center

The answer basically says individuals should be either U.S. citizens or U.S. resident aliens in order to be eligible for payments. Additionally, question 6 clearly states that a nonresident alien is not eligible for the payment. The bottom appears international students who meet the U.S. resident alien requirement with an SSN will be eligible for the payment. However, it takes at least 5 years for international students to be eligible for the U.S. resident alien. In my next paragraph, eligibility for a resident alien will be outlined.

Q6. A nonresident alien in 2020 is not eligible for the payment. A person who is a qualifying resident alien with an SSN valid for employment is eligible for the payment only if he or she is a qualifying resident alien in 2020 and may not be claimed as a dependent of another taxpayer. An alien who received a payment but is not a qualifying resident alien for 2020 should return the payment to the IRS by following the instructions as described in Topic I: Returning the Economic Impact Payment.

Economic Impact Payment Information Center

Eligibility for a resident alien

To be eligible for a resident alien, any individual should meet the “substantial presence” test. The substantial presence test is comprised of two parts –31 days and 183 days requirements. An individual should meet both 31 days and 183 days requirements to be eligible for a resident alien. Pasted below shows how to calculate 31 and 183 days:

To meet this test, you must be physically present in the United States (U.S.) on at least:

1. 31 days during the current year, and
2. 183 days during the 3-year period that includes the current year and the 2 years immediately before that, counting:
   • A. Current year days in the United States x 1 =_____days
   • B. First preceding year days in the United States x 1/3 =_____days
   • C. Second preceding year days in the United States x 1/6 =_____days
   • D. Total Days in the United States =_____days (add lines A, B, and C). If line D equals or exceeds 183 days, you have passed the 183-day test.

However as I briefly mentioned above, IRS requires students on F and J visas to not count days for which they are exempt individuals. The IRS webpage titled Exempt Individual – Who is a Student says that students:

• must wait 5 calendar years before counting 183 days;
• the 5 calendar years need not be consecutive; and once a cumulative total of 5 calendar years is reached during the student’s lifetime after 1984 he may never be an exempt individual as a student ever again during his lifetime;
• this applies to immediate family members of exempted students (spouse and child on F-2, J-2, M-2, or Q-3 visa)

What if I am ineligible but received the payment?

Non-resident aliens who don’t satisfy the “substantial presence test,” thus, are not resident aliens should file 1040 NR or 1040 NR-EZ for the tax return. However if they misfiled 1040 forms, international students who have been in the United States might have received the Economic Impact Payments. In this case, the IRS recommends returning the payment.

If the payment was a paper check:

1. Write “Void” in the endorsement section on the back of the check.
2. Mail the voided Treasury check immediately to the appropriate IRS location listed here.
3. Don’t staple, bend, or paper clip the check.
4. Include a brief explanation stating the reason for returning the check. 

If the payment was a paper check and you have cashed it, or if the payment was a direct deposit:

1. Submit a personal check, money order, etc., immediately to the appropriate IRS location listed here.
2. Write on the check/money order made payable to “U.S. Treasury” and write 2020EIP, and the taxpayer identification number (social security number, or individual taxpayer identification number) of the recipient of the check.
3. Include a brief explanation of the reason for returning the EIP.

To sum, F and J visa holders who have been in the United States for less than 5 years will not be eligible for the Economic Impact Payments. If an ineligible international student happened to receive a stimulus check, she or he should return the payment following the IRS’s guidelines. On the other hand, international students who have been in the United States for more than 5 years AND satisfy the substantial presence test AND have a valid SSN are eligible for the stimulus payment.